Brechin boss Ray McKinnon hopes his side can get in front and stay in front when they host Annan Athletic in tonight’s Scottish Cup fourth round replay.
It is something City have struggled to do in recent weeks, notably in the first game at Galabank when they allowed the League Two outfit a second half equaliser which meant the two teams need to do it all again at Glebe Park this evening.
McKinnon watched a similar story in Saturday’s league fixture at home to Airdrieonians, with Bobby Barr’s opener nine minutes from time cancelled out by Jim Lister’s header just four minutes later, but the City manager is pleased that his side are getting into winning positions.
They just have to do that little bit more to see games out.
“It’s a mental thing,” he admitted.
“It doesn’t matter what part of the game it is, after you score the next five minutes are crucial and I think we just sat off Airdrie slightly and allowed them to get a cross into the box which they scored from.
“But the thing is that we’re going into the lead.
“OK we’ve not seen it out in the last few weeks but it’s not a problem, it’s just that we need a wee bit of luck and it’s something we need to learn.
“As soon as we score we need to go and work harder and really press teams.”
The 1-1 draw at Galabank at the start of the month meant that both teams found themselves in the hat for the fifth round draw, with a trip to Championship side Falkirk lying in wait for the winners.
That’s incentive enough for McKinnon and City to progress to the last 16 proper, although the City boss felt his team should have done enough to see off their lower league opposition at the first time of asking.
“We knew it was going to be a difficult game on the astroturf but I thought we created more chances and I think if we had taken those chances we probably would have won the game,” he noted.
“Fair play to Annan, they got us on the counter and scored a well-worked goal, but we lived to fight another day and we’re confident of going through to the next round.”
City had a slight concern over Gerry McLauchlan who was nursing a thigh strain following Saturday’s game with Airdrieonians, but the defender has fully recovered and will be available for tonight’s cup tie.
The hosts have also been boosted by the return of on loan Aberdeen midfielder Jamie Masson, who has now been cleared to play in the Scottish Cup after the Dons’ exit to Dundee.